Record support for phonographs



NVENTO Huen 10h,

10, 1939. c. HuENLlcH Er A1.

RECORD SUPPORT FOR PHNOGRAPHS Filed Feb. 16, 1937 M .1,51 r im NME .v I v l! A Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE Max Gramann, Thomas A. Edison,

Orange, N. J., assgnors to Incorporated, West Orange,

N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 16, 1937, Serial No. 125,972

Claims.

This invention relates to phonographs, and more particularly to improvements in supports for cylindrical records such as are commonly employed in phonographs used for the recordation 5 and reproduction of dictation and the like.

In a certain improved type of record supports a record is adapted to be automatically ejected upon suitable manipulation of an appropriate control member. The automatic ejecting means of such a support is adapted to be actuated upon slight movement of the control member to thereby eifect the releasing or freeing of the record from the support. Consequently it sometimes happens that the ejector mechanism is accidentally actuated. This accidental release of the record may not only be an inconvenience to the operator but the longitudinal displacement of the record on the support may be very detrimental to good recording, because of the existing engagement with the record or proximity thereto, of operating parts of the phonograph.

Another difficulty experienced in the use of such a record support is that the ejector means is biased to a predetermined position longitudinally of the support, and when a record is mounted in operative position on the support it is constantly urged in an outward direction against an expansible and contractible device so as to hold the record on the support in proper longitudnal position. Due to temperature variations a considerable expansion of the record cylinder may cause its bore to enlarge to such an extent that the urging force of the ejecting means will cause the cylinder to be moved some distance longitudinally over the expansible portion of the support. 'I'his is also detrimental to good recording because it results in longitudinal displacement of the record on the support.

It is an important object of our invention to 40 provide in this type of support means for preventing longitudinal displacement of the record While operatively positioned on the support, even if the record becomes considerably expanded.

It is a further object of the invention to provide improved means in such a support for preventing accidental ejection of the reco-rd.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means which is designed to function during the initial ejecting movement of the record to prevent chattering thereof.

Other objects of the invention will be obvious from the following description and the appended claims. In connection with the following description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view, partly in section, of a record support to which one embodiment of our invention is applied;

Figure la is a fragmentary detail sectional view taken on line laf-Ia of Figure 1;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevational view, with parts in section, showing the ejecting head of our improved record support as turned 90 degrecs from` the position wherein said head is shown in Figure 1; and l0 Figure 3`isa sectional View taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

The phonograph to which our invention is shown applied in Figure l, is of well known construction and comprises a bed plate I provided 15 with a standard 2. Rigidly secured to said standard and extending rightwardly thereof is a m-ain stationary sleeve 3, upon which our improved record support is adapted to be rotated. This sleevev 3 is secured in the standard 2 by a set 20 screw 3. Axially journaled within sleeve 3 is a shaft 4, which extends the full length of said' sleeve and protrudes outwardly beyond both ends thereof. The left-hand outward extension of shaft 4 is enlarged to form a head 4 to which 25 any suitable driving means (not shown) may be secured. Adjacent head 4 and located within the bore of sleeve 3, the shaft 4 has a bearing portion 4 adapted to furnish true axial alignment and journalling means for said shaft with- 30 in said sleeve. The right-hand extension of shaft 4 is provided principally to furnish a connection for transmitting the rotation of said shaft to a main external hollow shaft 9, extending longitudinally of and journaled on sleeve 3. 35 This rotation transmitting means comprises an annular member or connecting ring 6, better seen in Figure 3. The bore of said ring fits snugly over the shaft 4 and is provided with a keyway 6 engaged by a key or pin 'l extending from said 40 shaft, and the ring itself fits snugly within the shaft `il and is provided with a peripheral threaded hole to receive a set screw 8 passing through the wall of said' shaft. Thus rotation of the shaft 4 is directly imparted to shaft 9. 45 To prevent shafts 4 and 9 from shifting to the left in respect to the sleeve 3, a knurled nut I0 is threaded onto the end of shaft 4 to position the cooperative ring 6 adjacent the end 3 of sleeve 3. When the nut Ill is tightened to locate the member 6 thus, the head 4' of shaft 4 is thereby brought to a position adjacent the left-hand end of sleeve 3, and thus said head serves to prevent the shifting of the shafts 4 and 9 to the right on sleeve 3. To eliminate undue friction, the

shaft 9 is rotatably mounted upon sleeve 3 by the end bearing portions and I2.

Referring particularly to Figure l, reference character 26 designates a hollow substantially cylindrical slightly tapered shell or record guiding member, which extends substantially over the full length of the shaft 9 and is adapted to receive thereover and to guide to proper operative position a cylindrical record being applied to the support. I'he shell 20 is concentrically supported on shaft 9 by a pair of discs 2| and 22, and is secured to said shaft by means of a set screw 23, which passes through a collar 24 of disc 2| and engages said shaft. Located at the smaller end of shell member 26, is a hollow conical chuck 21 composed of three sections or jaws 28, 29 and 36; the arrangement of these jaws being better seen in Figure 3. The smaller end of chuck 21 is disposed within shell 20 and is supported by a collar 3| which is secured to the shaft 9 by a screw 32. The larger end portion of chuck 21 extends outwardly of shell 20 and is abruptly shouldered so as to present an enlarged conical bearing portion 33 which is adapted for engagement with the smaller end of the bore of a record cylinder when mounted on the support. The chuck sections or jaws 28, 29 and 36 are respectively loosely connected to the collar 3 I, by small pins or screws 3| projecting from said collar and engaging enlarged apertures 3l in said sections, to thus permit a limited pivotal movement of said sections about said collar and thereby provide for expansion and contraction of the chuck. The outer ends of the jaws of the chuck have inwardly extending flanges engaging and cooperating with an enlarged annular conical portion 34 provided on a sleeve member 35 which is mounted for sliding movement on shaft 9. In order to provide constant cooperation between the inwardly extending flanges of the chuck 21 and the conical portion 34, an endless coil spring 38 embraces the chuck sections 28, 29 and 30 in a manner to urge said flanges against said surface 34. The sleeve member 35 extends outwardly beyond the righthand end of shaft 9, where it is coupled with a control member 36 adapted to impart a longitudinal movement to said member 35 on the shaft 9. This control member 36 will hereinafter be more fully described. Suffice it presently to state that the inward movement of sleeve 35 effects contraction of chuck 21, while the outward movement thereof causes expansion of said chuck. A limit of movement of the sleeve 35 is provided to retain its conical portion 34 in engagement with the jaws of chuck 21. Such limit of movement is preferably provided by engagement of the head 8 of screw 8 with a slot 35 in said sleeve, as shown in Figure l. Pivotally mounted at the inner end of chuck 21, upon a pin 44 secured in a boss 45 extending from collar 3|, is a locking or retaining pawl 43. This pawl is normally urged clockwise for engagement with a lip 38 formed at the inner extremity of the sleeve member 35. The urging force for turning pawl 43 clockwise is applied by a rod 41 which is longitudinally disposed and supported within the shell 20 in such a manner as to be constantly urged rightwardly by a coil spring 46- The rod 41 passes loosely through slots 49 in the discs 21| and 22, and is connected at one end with said pawl 43. The spring 46 is located on the rod 41 between the disc 2| and a collar 59 which is retained in position on the rod by means of a cross-pin The record support is provided, at its inner or left-hand end, with a record supporting and ejecting disc 52 formed as an integral portion of a sleeve 53. The disc 52 is provided near its peripheral edge with a rightwardly extending tapered ange 54 adapted for engagement with the larger end of the bore of a record mounted on the support. The sleeve 53 extends into shell 26 and has a iiange 56 at its inner end. Sliding movement of the unitary head member comprising disc 52, sleeve 53 and llange 56 is limited in one direction by a disc 51 secured to the shaft 9, and is limited in the other direction by disc 2|. The disc 52 is biased toward the disc 2| by a pair of coil springs 58 and 58 surrounding two parallel headed guide rods 59 and 59 (Fig. 2) threaded into the disc 2| and passing loosely through the flange 56. The rod 41 also passes loosely through said flange 56 and is provided at its left-hand end with an adjustable nut 48 adapted to cooperate with said flange when a record is moved onto the support.

The mechanism thus far described is substantially the same as that shown in Patent No. 2,016,717, issued August 6, 1935, to H. F. M. Gramann, one of the present joint inventors.

As shown in Figure l, a novel feature of the present invention comprises a rod. 66 disposed .longitudinally of the support and reciprocally mounted within apertures in the discs 2| and 22. This rod may be conveniently located diametrically opposite to the rod 41 and extends to the right through a suitable aperture in the collar 3| of chuck 21 to a point adjacent the lip 38 where the end thereof is in the path of movement of sleeve 35. The rod 60 is connected at its lefthand end to one arm of a small bell-crank member 6| which is pivoted upon a cross-pin 63 supported within a U-shaped bracket 64. The bracket 64 is, as shown in Figure 2, riveted to the disc 2| and extends leftwardly to a point near the disc 52. Within the bracket 64, there is provided. a locking pawl 65 which is pivoted for movement upon a cross-pin 66 retained in said bracket.

The pawl 65 is normally urged, viewing Figure l, anticlockwise or toward the sleeve 53 by a light coil spring 61 to engage a hook portion 65 thereof with a small plate or block 68 fastened to said sleeve by pins 69. In order to provide suitable clearance for the engagement of the hook portion 65 with said block 68 and also to permit free movement of the sleeve 53 along the shaft 9, said sleeve is slotted at 53', as shown in Figure 2. Beyond its hook portion 65', the pawl 65 is provided with an engaging portion 65", which underlies the arm 6| of the bell-crank member 6|. From the above arrangement, it will be easily understood that if the rod 60 is moved leftward, member 6| will be rocked in a direction to cause a clockwise movement of pawl 65 thereby to disengage it from the block 68.

The support is adapted to either retain or eject a record in accordance with the movement of the sleeve 35 to positions for respectively effecting expansion or contraction of the chuck 21. Means, comprising the control member 36, is provided for imparting the controlling movements of said sleeve 35. The control member 36 is cupshaped, and is provided with a manipulative end portion or knob 31V and a sleeve portion 31 which ts telescopically over the outer righthand end of sleeve 35.

It has been observed that there is a tendency on the part of the user of the phonograph to pull outwardly on knob 31 after a cylinder has been placed on the support. To discourage this action on the part of the user, the knob 3.1 hasv been tapered inwardly so as to provide an inclined surface which does not lend itself readily to be gripped. This mechanical expedient has been found to lessen or overcome this undesirable tendency.

'Ihe sleeve portion 31 preferably extends over the sleeve 35 and normally part way into a deep annular groove 34' formed in the enlarged portion 34 of said sleeve. The control member 36 is held on the sleeve 35 for relative sliding movement by means of a slot 39 in portion 31 thereof which is engaged by the head of a screw 40 threaded in sleeve 35. posed between the end of the shaft 4 and the inner wall of the knob 31 serves to bias the control member 36 to the right to engage one'end of its slot 39 with the head of the screw 4D and thus impart to the sleeve 35 a similar bias to hause an expansion of the chuck 21. As so coupled, the control member 36 must necessarily be moved to the left, against the tension of spring 4l, to the extent of the length of slot 39 before it can impart a similar movement to the sleeve 35. This construction is particularly provided to make the controlling movement of sleeve 35 an intentional movement, thereby preventing accidental contraction of the chuck 21. That is to say,4 this telescopical arrangement of the sleeve 35 and the control member 36 constitutes means which provides a lost motion longitudinally of the record support before the locking means for the ejector disc 52 is rendered ineffective by the lip 38 engaging the end of the rod 60. It will be noted that the lost motion just described is augmented by the distance or Width of the space between lip 38 and rod 60. The merit of this construction is that for all practical purposes accidental ejection of the record is prevented by a simplified mechanism as compared to that dis-. closed in a co-pending application of the presentv inventors, Serial No. 750,968, filed November 1, 1934, on which application Patent No. 2,113,141, dated April 5, 1938, has been granted.

As is Well known in the art, there is provided an indication system including a memorandum slip or index upon which the user of a phonograph of the general type herein described may indicate any instructions with respect to transcribing the dictation made on the record. It is apparent that the locking mechanism embodied as a feature of the present invention prevents longitudinal movement or partial displacement of the cylindrical record from operative position on the support, and incidental thereto the accuracy of the index will be materially improved.

The operation of the present improved record support may be briefly described as follows:

To remove the record shown mounted on the support in Figure 1, it is only necessary to move the control member 36 inwardly by pressing on its knob 31. It will be understood, of course, from what has just been explained, that the movement of the control member 36 must be of such an extent as to cause first the independent shifting of said member over sleeve 35 and there-V after impart a movement to the sleeve 35 until the latter is stopped by the engagement of the head 8 of screw 8 with the outer end of slot 35 in said sleeve.V During the initial portion of such movement,I member 36 will merely compress the spring 4| until the head of screw 40 is engaged by the outer end of the slot 39, after which the sleeve 35 begins to move therewith and the chuck sections 28, 29 and 30 will be contracted A coil spring 4l, 'interby spring 30' the latter portion of such movement of member 36 the rod 60 will be shifted to the left'and rockA tain the degree of ejection desired. In the movement of the disc 52 to eject a record, the accompanying movement of flange 56 allows spring 46 to move rod 41 to the right causing the pawl 43 to engage with the lip 38 of sleeve 35, thus to lock or retain said sleeve substantially at its innermost position. 'I'his conditions the support ready to receive a new record which may be applied thereon as follows:

The new record is freely moved over the contracted chuck 21 and further on over the shell or guiding member 20 until its inner end engages the sloping surface of flange 54 of disc 52. Upon moving a record to this position, greater pressure must be applied to move the record and the disc 52 and its flange 56 to the left against the action of springs 58 and 58', so as to compress the latter. It is to be noted that the extreme movement of the record and the in extent by the disc 51. During the movement of the disc 52 by the record as above stated, the iiange 56 engages nut 48 on rod 41, thereby moving the latter to the left and consequently disengaging the pawl 43 from the lip 38. Spring 4| thereupon moves member 36 and also, through the medium ofthe slot and screw connection 39 and 40 moves the sleeve member 35 to the right causing chuck 21 to expand by the co-action of the conical portion 34 with the chuck sections 28, 29 and 30, so as to bring the sloping annular surface 33 of the chuck into gripping engagement with the smaller end of the bore of the record, all as shown in Figure 1. When the sleeve member 35 is moved as above described, the rod 69 is free to move in the same direction and consequently the pawl 65, by means of the tension oi' its spring 61, will immediately engageblock 6B on sleeve 53 and thus lock disc 52 against the tension of springs 58 and 58. The record is then supported by the chuck 21 and the disc 52 and is clear of the shell or guiding member 20 and, while so supported, is not in any way urged by the energy which is stored in the ejecting disc 52 by the compressed springs 58 and 58'.

According to the present invention,it is proposed to provide means for preventing, during record ejection, immediate or too sudden dislodgment of the record from the flange 54 of the disc 52. To this end, viewing Figure 1a, there is provided a spring tensioned member 15 for engaging the bore of the record at the endadjacent the flange 54. As shown, the member 15 is tensioned by means of an arcuate spring member 16 located within flange 54 and retained in position by means of a screw 11. 'I'he member 15 may be secured to spring 16 in any suitable manner and extends outwardly to yieldingly engage the record through a slot 18 in the ange 54. By means of this tensioned member 15, during record ejection, both the disc 52 and the cylindrical record move together or in unison until such time as the disc is stopped by engagement of its flange 56 with the thereby to free the record;y During f disc 52 to the left is limited disc 2|; thereafter, due to its momentum, the' record is .dislodged from the flange 54 of the disc 5l? and moves' a further distance, depending upon the selected strength of the ejecting springs 58 and 58.

While the form of mechanism herein described is admirably adapted to fulll the objects stated it is to be understood that it is not intended to confine the invention to the form herein shown, since it may be embodied in various other forms within the scope of the appendedclaims.

What we claim is:

l. A support for cylindrical records comprising a device for engaging and supporting a record, said device being movable longitudinally of the support to eject the record from the support, and a braking member mounted for movement relative to said device and radially of the support, said member being biased to such a position that it will yieldingly engage the record during the initial ejecting movement thereof and until the same is at least partially disengaged from said device.

2. A support for cylindrical records comprising end devices for engaging and supporting a record, one of said devices being movable longitudinally of the support to eject the record from the support, said movable device having braking means effective during the initial ejecting movement of the record, said braking means comprising a spring tensioned member adapted to engage the inner bore of the record until the latter is moved a distance sufficient to disengage said movable device, whereby chattering of the record during ejection is prevented.

3. A support for cylindrical records comprising record supporting devices spaced longitudinally of the support and engageable with a record at its ends respectively; one of said devices being movable longitudinally of the support and being biased towards the other device to inoperative position whereby it is adapted to exert a longitudinal thrust upon a record operatively positioned on the support; the said other device being expansible and contractible and having a peripheral surface which extends longitudinally of the support and slopes outwardly with respect to the axis of the latter, the construction and arrangement being such that an intermediate portion oi said longitudinally extending surface will engage one end of the bore of a record operatively positioned on the support; means for holding said biased device in operative position to render the longitudinal thrust exerted thereby ineffective in respect of a record operatively mounted on the support; and means responsiveto the movement of said biased device to operative `position to render said holding means operative.

4. A support for cylindrical records comprising record supporting devices spaced longitudinally of the support and engageable with a record at its ends respectively; one of said devices being expansible to and contractible from operative condition and having a surface which extends longitudinally of the support and which slopes outwardly with respect to the axis of the latter, said surface being adapted when such device is expanded to engage one end of the bore of the record; actuating means for expanding and contracting said expansible and contractible device; the other of said devices being movable longitudinally of the support and being biased in a direction towards said first device to inoperative position; and means for automatically and positively locking said longitudinally movable device in predetermined operative position against the action of the bias exerted thereon to thereby prevent such longitudinally movable device from exerting any longitudinal thrust on a record when operatively positioned on the support, said locking means being separate from and independent of said actuating means and being responsive to the movement of such longitudinally movable device to its operative position.

5. A support for cylindrical records comprising record supporting devices spaced longitudinally of the support and engageable with a record at its ends respectively; one of said devices being immovable longitudinally of the support, being expansible to and contractible from operative condition and having a surface portion adapted when such device is expanded to engage an end portion of the record; means for adjusting said immovable device to expanded and contracted condition; the other of said devices being movable longitudinally of the support and being biased toward said immovable device whereby it is adapted when moved to operative position to exert a longitudinal thrust on a record operatively mounted on the support; and means independent of said adjusting means and responsive to movement of said movable device in a direction opposed to the bias exerted on the latter for automatically and positively locking said movable device in its operative position so as to prevent the same from exerting any record operatively positioned on the support.

CHARLES HUENLICI-I. HEINRICH F. MAX GRAMANN.

longitudinal thrust on a J 

